Payal spoke across the vast distance between them, his mind automatically catching her voice because he listened for her always.

The minds are already attempting to stretch. That’s how the PsyNet grows—a natural progression that keeps anchor points from strain and collapse. The effect is magnified by the fact that these people are no longer in a region of the PsyNet that correlates exactly to their usual physical residence.

How long?

I don’t know, but this fix buys us time to dig deeper, find more answers. We can do the same for other fractured areas, gain a few more months. Until then, we stand guard. We watch. We protect.

Because they were anchors, and this was what they’d been born to do. Have you had a fatality report?

No, I—wait. It’s coming in.

Canto braced himself.

Zero. Joy seared their bond. A number of people had panic attacks, but there were no deaths and no major injuries.

Exhaling hard, Canto shoved both hands through his hair. But his worry lingered. How are you feeling?

Tired, but not exhausted. I expected to be, but the merge seemed to magnify our power in some way.

I noticed that, too. Can you rest?

No. My father is impatient. Better I take the lead, see him now.

Canto’s jaw worked, his abdomen a steel board. I’ll be there, watching over you.

I know.

3K?

Yes?

Be careful, darling.

The Architect

 

What we witnessed today was the most breathtaking act of psychic management that has ever occurred in any of our lifetimes. Bravo, Designation A. We salute you.

—Editorial, PsyNet Beacon

THE ARCHITECT STOOD cloaked in the section of the Net where minds had been repositioned in an awesome display of power, and knew she needed to control the mind behind the maneuver. Whoever had done this must be one of hers—no one but a Scarab, one of the new people, had that much power. She just had to find that Scarab and pull them to her, collect them in her web.

In the meantime, she had to keep making room for her children in this Net. There were too many Psy, that was the problem. Why couldn’t everyone see it? That was why the Net was collapsing. Their race had never been meant to be millions. Bring it down to a small number and it would be far more pure, far more powerful.

Taking a deep breath on the physical plane, she reached out to one group of her children. It’s time. Wash the Net clean of the disease. Remove all the weak old players from the network. Create space for the newborn Scarabs to thrive.

Her children stirred and began to act. They trusted her in every way.

Yes, Mother.

Chapter 43

 

We aim not to conceal the break, but to give respect to it—for it is an integral aspect of the item’s character, to be cherished for the story it tells.

—Tomoko Aoki, kintsugi master (1998)

BE CAREFUL, DARLING.

Unable to deal with the emotion she could hear in Canto’s telepathic tone when she was about to face her father, Payal cut the contact. She knew he’d understand. He was 7J. He got 3K and her oddities and flaws and … uniqueness.

He’d know that she couldn’t be anything but a robot when she met with Pranath or Lalit. Robots had metallic armor, couldn’t be easily wounded or taken advantage of; most of all, robots were logical—and that was the biggest advantage she’d ever had when it came to her family.

On the flip side, she could now also access a level of emotional intelligence that she’d locked away when she’d segregated the part of herself she’d always seen as the screaming girl.

She wasn’t. She was simply a less restrained aspect of Payal’s nature.

The Payal Rao who walked out of her apartment was a woman in charge of her life, and a worthy adversary. She’d decided not to teleport, because she needed to keep energy in reserve. Being vulnerable in this house was a recipe for fatal disaster—

The psychic shock wave hit without warning.

She slammed one hand against the nearest wall to keep her footing.

Her phone buzzed at the same time. “Suriana,” she said, after seeing the ID. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m stretched.” Short, sharp breaths. “Major cascading fracture.”

Payal. Canto’s crystalline voice entered her mind as Suriana hung up abruptly. Massive Scarab assault. I’m heading to assist Arran.

I’m with Suriana. Do you need help assigning tasks?

No, I’ve pulled in Sophia.

Returning to her room, she locked the door, ran to lie down in her bed to lessen the risk of injury from a collapse, then entered the Substrate.

The shock wave in the PsyNet had to be huge, but Designation A couldn’t worry about that. Their job was to hold the Substrate together.

Her head rang, her blood pounding in her mouth, but she and other As assisted Suriana in putting the seal in place before their minds whiplashed back to their home zones.

The scent of wet iron filled the air.

Looking down at her bedspread, she saw the small spread of red: she was bleeding from the nose. Only the fact she’d lain down on her side had stopped the blood from staining her clothing.

She dug out a tissue from her pocket and used that to try to stop the blood. It was a sign that she’d pushed too hard. But as her brain was still functional and she still had all her physical abilities, it was nothing beyond a minor overload.

Canto.

She’d never before needed anyone, and when he didn’t respond, it was a stark reminder that such need was a weakness. She felt adrift without him. If this was what it was like to be someone’s person, and to have them be yours, she wasn’t sure she liked it.

But the idea of letting go? No, she would never. He was hers now.

And he needed her to function both as an anchor and as Payal. So she mopped up the blood, then took stock of the situation. The massive—and immediate—coordinated response by anchors had squelched the shock wave at its mouth. That in turn had helped powerful Psy in the Net fix the damage and find the perpetrators.

A telepathic message slipped into her mind via the channel she’d set up for the Ruling Coalition. Alert to Ruling Coalition from Aden Kai: Attacking Scarabs captured in seventy-five percent of cases. One large eruption of the virus. An E is taking care of that. Situation contained.

So quickly, Payal thought, but when she glanced at the time on her phone, it was to see that two hours had passed. Yet neither Lalit nor her father had tried to contact her. It appeared they were finally beginning to understand what she did. While she could understand her father considering that a plus now that she was on the Ruling Coalition, it could augur nothing good when it came to her brother.